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Coalition Letter: Congress Must Honor Sequester Savings and Defund ObamaCare Before It Is Too Late

FreedomWorks has signed on to the following Memo to the Movement by the Conservative Action Project:

Current Event:

The current continuing resolution (CR) funding the government expires on March 27, setting up an opportunity for Congress and President Obama to honor the bi-partisan sequester savings already agreed upon. It also presents an opportunity to achieve even more savings by defunding and stopping the implementation of Obamacare, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently reported will force 7 million Americans out of their existing health insurance.

Action:

Conservatives cannot support a CR that is above the sequester level of $974 billion annually. While many conservatives would prefer reprogramming defense cuts to other areas of discretionary spending (dollar for dollar cuts in the same year), the current sequester savings are better than none at all.

Conservatives should not approve a CR unless it defunds Obamacare. This includes Obamacare’s unworkable exchanges, unsustainable Medicaid expansion, and attack on life and religious liberty.

A mere “date-change CR” is unacceptable. Although the Obama administration and others will argue the CR is not the appropriate legislative vehicle to defund Obamacare, it is easily done through a series of appropriation riders. Because the CR represents one of the best vehicles possible to delay the implementation of Obamacare, it must not be used to bargain on the upcoming sequester.

Issue in Brief:On October 1, 2013, open enrollment begins for the federally backed health care exchanges. On January 1, 2014, new money from Washington will begin flowing to states and individuals, all but ensuring that these new entitlements will become a permanent fixture of life in America. The window of opportunity to stop the implementation of these massive new subsidies is closing.Although many of Obamacare's provisions are now the law of the land, many of the law's most damaging and irreversible provisions do not take effect until 2014.

Once implemented, the new spending contained within Obamacare, primarily the Medicaid expansion and exchange subsidies, will cost taxpayers more than $1.6 trillion over the next decade, according to the latest CBO estimates. Given the history of federal entitlement programs and the back-loaded nature of Obamacare spending, some estimate the full implementation cost could reach $2.6 trillion over ten years. It will increase the federal government's health spending by 15 percent.

The issue is far from settled in the states, which are tasked with either implementing the wide-ranging mandates and invasive requirements put forth by Obamacare, or deferring such choices to the bureaucrats in Washington.

The fractured opinion amongst the states is one reason the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has continually pushed back the deadline for states to make a decision on the exchanges and Medicaid expansion.

The invasive elements of Obamacare are not set in stone; in fact, elements of the law are already under assault from Republicans and Democrats alike. The CLASS Act was repealed and there is bipartisan support for eliminating the devastating Medical Device Tax.

Blueprint to Defunding Obamacare

Obamacare’s funding mechanisms are as complicated as the law itself, but they can be stopped through the appropriation process, which includes the upcoming continuing resolution.

Federally Backed Exchanges. An appropriations rider must eliminate the refundable tax credits for premiums and the cost sharing subsidies that are essentially used to support insurance purchased in the Obamacare exchanges, which starts January 1, 2014.

Medicaid Expansion. An appropriations rider must eliminate the enhance match funding for the Medicaid expansion, which takes effect January 1, 2014.

Permanent Appropriations. Obamacare contains items called “permanent appropriations” which guarantee funding for the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) and Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF). An appropriations rider turns off funds for these so-called permanent appropriations, which are already in effect.

Life and Religious Liberty. Obamacare is an unprecedented attack on life and religious liberty. An appropriations rider must repeal the HHS mandate that attacks the religious values and principles of countless Americans.

Miscellaneous Programs. An appropriations rider must block all funding for newly authorized discretionary programs contained in Obamacare and return reauthorized programs back to their pre-Obamacare levels.

Bad news, folks: President Obama was re-elected. The Democrats won the House of Repesentatives vote by more than a million and a half votes -- so even though there is a two-party Republican-TeaParty majority it does not have a majority's legitimacy.

On top of that, it's two separate parties whic don't trust each other, so any idea of them doing anything together is real-lee stoo-pid.

Well, it's October 9th 2013 and the reBOOBlicans of our current congress have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt what BOOBS they are. croozO, paul, demintt [heritage], king, lee, gohmert and good ol' john boner [☻] are not showing maturity, common sense or concern for ANY USA citizen with their current actions.
Blame our President Barak Obama or any of the Democrats for the "IDIOLOGY" not ideology they are spewing [vomiting] and it's obvious where the blame is to go.
Lunatics, fascist, megalomaniacs and psychotics that need to be institutionalize not re-elected to office.
Hey, thank God that when 2014 comes around, they will all be voted out of office or hopefully be recalled.
There is actually a petition in texASS to recall teddy boy crooz☻.
BRING IT ON. They are brain dead. What more can I say!!!

It's funny . . . Got a "thank you" email from Matt Kibbe
President & CEO, FreedomWorks for joining in the "cause". What he doesn't realize is that the ONLY reason I joined was to ridicule the "IDIOLOGY" of the duffus tea ▼ ▼ party reBOOBlicanz.

2014 is right around the corner and those idiots will be replaced. Then, finally we can get things done: immigration, better gun laws.
All those inbreeds want to do is "TRY" and destroy this current administration. Their reverse psychology will work against them.
The country hates them, the reBOOBlicanz and an election will be the way to get rid of them. Hallelujah!!

This fight to defund ObamaCare is taking a turn for the arcane as it heads into the more frustratingly obtuse chamber of Congress, the Senate. Although the antiquated system of parliamentary arcana in the Senate helps to slow down bills in order that they receive more thorough and deliberate debate, it also makes the proceeding in that chamber very different for those outside the beltway to understand.

The current fight to defund Obamacare seems incomprehensible to many inside the Beltway. They explain with pious snark and dismissive ridicule that it is not a fight that can be won. They say that despite the federal government needing the House's approval to spend money, the House's approval is not really needed for the federal government to spend money. Well, the House's approval is needed, and Republicans won the House two elections in a row. This defunding CR should have happened in January, 2011. It should happen now.

Contrary to the popular myth, Republicans have offered several alternatives to Obamacare, all of which were rejected out of hand by Obama and his cronies - while all the time they were saying they'd listen to any alternatives the Republicans had to offer.

Bloggers and activists from around the nation gathered at FreedomWorks this September 6-8 for a Defund ObamaCare Summit, where they discussed the consequences of ObamaCare and the strategies being used by Democrats and some Republicans to keep the law in place. Attendees at the summit learned to counter the most substantive arguments – many of which have been ironically formulated by Republican congressional leadership – to support the funding of ObamaCare. The message was simple: Why fund a law that no one believes will work with money the federal government doesn’t have?

Washington insiders and politicians from both sides of the aisle have been on a media blitz across America insisting that defunding Obamacare is a complex issue and it's impossible. They are being less than truthful. ObamaCare funding can easily be eliminated if Congress refuses to pass a Continuing Resolution that funds any part of the bill.

House & Senate/Schedule: Both the House and Senate are back in business after five weeks. The House will be in session through the end of next week, September 20th and will then recess for a week. The Senate, meanwhile, will be in continuous session through October 11th.

Apparently, House Republican leaders think we're stupid.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his leadership team are reportedly trying to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) through the House this week that funds ObamaCare but looks like it defunds it.

In every one of these situations: the push to attack Syria, the NSA spying on citizens, funding and implementation of Obamacare; proponents want to allow the government to do something it should not do, but claim we will be able to stop it if it goes any further. That thinking is backwards. The way to stop the NSA from gathering citizens' data, to keep the attack on Syria from escalating, and to stop Obamacare, is not to allow them to get started (funded) in the first place.